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  Image processing apparatusRelated Patent Categories: Image Analysis, Image Compression Or Coding, Interframe Coding (e.g., Difference Or Motion Detection)The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070041651. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] As a compression-encoding method of images, object encoding has been conventionally known. In object encoding, the foreground and background of a plurality of continuous frames of images (one scene or one cut of image) (for example, frames from a scene change to the next scene change) are extracted. When a plurality of images are formed of N frames, the background (if a scene is taken when a video camera is panned or tilted, for example, the background is a landscape image or a portrait image) of the entire one scene displayed by the N frames and the foreground obtained in the N frames in common are extracted. Data obtained by object encoding is decoded by arranging the foreground in the background. This type of object encoding is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,367, assigned to the assignee of the present application, and hereby incorporated by reference. [0005] In encoding in which the foreground and the background are extracted, such as object encoding, the way the extracted foreground is encoded highly affects the efficiency of encoding. [0006] In encoding in which the foreground and the background are extracted, such as object encoding, the precision of extracting of the background highly affects the quality of the decoded image. [0007] As a method for detecting camera motion in object encoding, a method for regarding the entire frame as one block and achieving block matching can be considered, like a method for detecting the motion vector of a macroblock. [0008] To apply block matching to the entire frame, however, it is necessary to obtain the sum of the absolute-value differences between the pixels of an image on one frame and those of an image on a frame one frame before while the spatial position of the frame for which camera motion is to be detected is being shifted. The amount of calculation is huge and the calculation is troublesome. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0009] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to efficiently encode the foreground of an image. [0010] Another object of the present invention is to extract the background from an image highly precisely. [0011] Still another object of the present invention is to easily detect camera motion. [0012] One of the foregoing object is achieved in one aspect of the present invention through the provision of an image processing apparatus for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, including foreground extracting means for extracting the foreground of each frame from the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames; prediction-information generating means for generating prediction information used for predicting the foreground of each frame according to a front accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the future side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in a condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, and a rear accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the past side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in the condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped; and output means for outputting information including the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information as the result of encoding of the foregrounds of the plurality of continuous frames. [0013] One of the foregoing object is achieved in another aspect of the present invention through the provision of an image processing method for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, including the steps of extracting the foreground of each frame from the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames; generating prediction information used for predicting the foreground of each frame according to a front accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the future side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in a condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, and a rear accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the past side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in the condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped; and outputting information including the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information as the result of encoding of the foregrounds of the plurality of continuous frames. [0014] One of the foregoing object is achieved in still another aspect of the present invention through the provision of a recording medium for storing a computer-controllable program for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, the program comprising the steps of extracting the foreground of each frame from the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames; generating prediction information used for predicting the foreground of each frame according to a front accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the future side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in a condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, and a rear accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the past side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in the condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped; and outputting information including the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information as the result of encoding of the foregrounds of the plurality of continuous frames. [0015] One of the foregoing object is achieved in yet another aspect of the present invention through the provision of an image processing apparatus for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, including extracting means for extracting from the result of encoding including prediction information used for predicting the foreground of each frame, according to a front accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the future side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in a condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, and a rear accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the past side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in the condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information; and decoding means for decoding the image signal of each frame according to the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information. [0016] One of the foregoing object is achieved in still yet another aspect of the present invention through the provision of an image processing method for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, including the steps of extracting from the result of encoding including prediction information used for predicting the foreground of each frame, according to a front accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the future side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in a condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, and a rear accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the past side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in the condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information; and decoding the image signal of each frame according to the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information. [0017] One of the foregoing object is achieved in a further aspect of the present invention through the provision of a recording medium for storing a computer-controllable program for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, the program including the steps of extracting from the result of encoding including prediction information used for predicting the foreground of each frame, according to a front accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the future side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in a condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, and a rear accumulated image obtained by viewing the plurality of continuous frames from the past side in the time-progress direction of the plurality of continuous frames in the condition in which positioning has been applied to the backgrounds of the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames and the foregrounds are overlapped, the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information; and decoding the image signal of each frame according to the front accumulated image, the rear accumulated image, and the prediction information. [0018] One of the foregoing object is achieved in a still further aspect of the present invention through the provision of an image processing apparatus for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, including identical-position-pixel detecting means for detecting sets of pixels disposed spatially at identical positions in the plurality of continuous frames according to the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames when positioning has been applied to the background of each frame; number-of-pixels detecting means for detecting the number of pixels having each pixel value in each set of pixels disposed spatially at an identical position; and background-pixel-value determination means for determining a pixel value of the background image for each set according to the number of pixels. [0019] One of the foregoing object is achieved in a yet further aspect of the present invention through the provision of an image processing method for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, including the steps of detecting sets of pixels disposed spatially at identical positions in the plurality of continuous frames according to the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames when positioning has been applied to the background of each frame; detecting the number of pixels having each pixel value in each set of pixels disposed spatially at an identical position; and determining a pixel value of the background image for each set according to the number of pixels. [0020] One of the foregoing object is achieved in a still yet further aspect of the present invention through the provision of a recording medium for storing a computer-controllable program for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, the program including the steps of detecting sets of pixels disposed spatially at identical positions in the plurality of continuous frames according to the image signal of the plurality of continuous frames when positioning has been applied to the background of each frame; detecting the number of pixels having each pixel value in each set of pixels disposed spatially at an identical position; and determining a pixel value of the background image for each set according to the number of pixels. [0021] One of the foregoing object is achieved in a farther aspect of the present invention through the provision of an image processing apparatus for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, including storage means for storing the image signal; center-of-gravity-of-detection-area detecting means for detecting the center of gravity of the image signal of a detection area which includes the image signal of a frame immediately before a focus frame in the image signal stored in the storage means; center-of-gravity-of-focus-frame detecting means for detecting the center of gravity of the image signal of the focus frame; camera-motion-vector detecting means for detecting a camera-motion vector according to the center of gravity of the detection area and the center of gravity of the focus frame; and overwriting means for overwriting the image signal of the focus frame on the image signal stored in the storage means by a positional relationship based on the camera-motion vector. [0022] One of the foregoing object is achieved in a still farther aspect of the present invention through the provision of an image processing method for processing the image signal of a plurality of continuous frames, including the steps of storing the image signal; detecting the center of gravity of the image signal of a detection area which includes the image signal of a frame immediately before a focus frame in the image signal stored in the step of storing the image signal; detecting the center of gravity of the image signal of the focus frame; detecting a camera-motion vector according to the center of gravity of the detection area and the center of gravity of the focus frame; and overwriting the image signal of the focus frame on the image signal stored in the step of storing the image signal by a positional relationship based on the camera-motion vector. Continue reading... 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